Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Eisenberg Principles - Tom and Jerry Cover Art

Speaking of high standards... Here's more art that the average Joe wouldn't think was easy to do.This guy could sure draw. These old Eisenberg comics are great to study good principles from.You can see his style change over the years - getting simpler and more angular - like animated cartoons did from the 40s to the 50s.But his basics remain the same despite the superficial stylistic changes.Everything is well constructed and clearly staged - using negative spaces, line of action and all the rest of the useful stuff.These have it all!

Bonus:

Mel Crawford cover - another guy with a unique style, but all the basics underneath.

This is probably going to be a silly question, but what is the medium that Mel Crawford and other guys working at that time used to create that distinctive look? What paint did they use? I can't quite describe it, but it definitely has an older quality to it that would be fun to try and capture. My son has a Richard Scarry book from the early part of his career, before he switched to ink.

Hi John!My name is Fábio, i'm from Brazil.When i was a teenager i really loved to watch the Ren & Stimpy cartoons, they we're diferent for everything else, and so funny, and dramatic and with those "nasty" close-ups that Sponge Bob uses nowadays.well, guess what? i grew up and decided to become an animator.i working with animation since 2005.and doing research on the internet i found your blog, with really interesting things about animation and a way of thinking very similar to mine.It's a really good blog that i check every week.I would really apreciate if you could check one of my animations (this one got a prize on MTV Brazil)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RT505B_3Qxcand my demoreel.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JjaHMAgw6YI hope you don't mind. But would be really important to me to get an opnion from someone like you.Cause here in Brazil is really dificult to get in touch with really good animator like you.Thank you very muchFábio

David R: The type of paint favoured by many illustrators including Mel Crawford was gouache, which is like an opaque variation of watercolour. I've always used it myself for the warmth you can achieve in the colours and the simple, yet effective way of adding simple tones with drybrush edges. This is a technique that all of the cartoon book illustrators loved to use back then.

I disagree w/ David R; the Chuck Jones T&J's are not terrible. They're very enjoyable, much better than Road Runner or Tweety and Sylvester, & it's a tossup for me which is better; them or the original T&J.